Belief vs Faith

Belief vs Faith

I will just get straight to the point, believing is not having faith and having faith is not believing. "But I thought they were one and the same." I hear you say. No, sorry they are not, and I will tell you why they are completely different but essentially connected.

All people believe one way or the other. It does not matter if you are religious or not, believing is an integral part of our make-up. All our decisions are made because of what we believe. Even if what you believe is false. Let's look at it in a court of law environment.

A man commits murder and ends up in court. A jury of twelve hear all the evidence and arguments presented. What they don't know is if the evidence is true or not. At the end of the court case they have to make a decision based on the evidence that has been presented to them. They have to make a decision to send him to prison or let him go free based on if they believe him to be guilty or innocent. But they first have to have information based on evidence, whether false or true, to formulate a belief. Once a belief is formulated a decision can be made.

The act of believing in something is a choice. A very, very powerful choice! The choices we make in life are based on what we believe. The reason we make choices is because we believe that was the best course of action to take. One thing that is very important to remember is that we often believe something that is not real, right or the truth. Believing is choosing to side with information. There is no spiritual power in believing because it is all active in the soulish realm or the mind. It is a process of thought.

Believing in God is not having faith in God. The Apostle James says so in James 2:19,"You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and tremble."(New King James Translation) Believing in God is great, but it wont change your life. Believing in God is great, but it will not save your soul. There are millions upon millions of people around the world that call themselves Christians because they believe in God and Jesus Christ. Believing is good but it is only the beginning!

Jesus, in Mark 11:22, says we should have faith in God because according to Hebrews 11:6,"..without faith it is impossible to please Him..." Believing in God is passive, it doesn't move you one way or the other. Believing is only an acknowledgement of received information. Let me give an example: I believe with all my heart that multi-level-marketing can make me millions of dollars because I have evidence of people who have become millionaires through multi-level-marketing. But I am not one cent richer because I believe in a multi-level-marketing. But as soon as I start applying a certain multi-level-marketing strategy or system, I have moved from believing in it to putting faith in multi-level-marketing.

Belief with corresponding action is called faith. In Mark 11:22-24 Jesus says we should,"have faith in God," and then continues to tell us what our actions should be and what results we will have. Believing in God will change your situation as much as it changed the situation for the demons. James continues to say that faith without works is dead or you could say faith without works is just believing. So to move from believing to faith you have to act on what you believe.

But you cannot have faith without first believing something. You cannot believe something without first receiving information. Romans 10:17 says,"So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." The more we hear and see the Word of God the stronger our belief will be. The stronger our belief the stronger our faith can be.

In conclusion: The belief you act upon is an act of faith and it pleases God!

Faith

A Few Thoughts on Creation vs. EvolutionWhat does it take for a single molecule to make the transition from being nonliving matter to becoming living matter? Have we ever observed it happening? Spontaneous generation has been disproved by...

Satan Get Thee Behind MeThis is a true story that happened to me a couple of months ago. At first I was scared, very scared. There are (or were) some skepticisms I had, not now! I had never put much thought into dreams, or the...

Comments

No HTML is allowed in comments, but URLs will be hyperlinked. Comments are not for promoting your articles or other sites.

sending

Bob Puig 4 years ago

Ephesians 2:8-9. For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.

In order to have beliefs, we must first have Faith. Beliefs can and have in the past been proven wrong. In my life my beliefs have changed as I grew and expanded my knowledge by study, but my faith has never waivered.

Crazedgenius 4 years ago

You may be interested to know that the Bible actually makes no difference between belief and faith. The original Greek word can be translated either way. It's just usually translated "faith" when it's a noun (πίστις), or "faithful" when it's an adjective (πιστός), but "believing" when it's a verb (πιστεύω).

charlie 5 years agofrom From Kingdom of God living on Planet earth. between the oceans

excellent article. good work

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

You are absolutely right, belief and faith does mean different things to different people but I was speaking from a scriptural stand point. According to the Bible there is a big difference.

Thanks for reading.

ImChemist 7 years ago

Belief or Faith is differentiated from person to other.

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

Dave, thanks for that.

But they first have to have information based on evidence, whether false or true, to formulate a belief. Once a belief is formulated a decision can be made.

This is also what happened to Jesus, The pharisees paid people to be false witnesses which started making people believe a lie.

I agree completely with you concerning Matthew 17:20 but our faith that is as small as a grain of mustard seed has to be doing something, it has to be responding to what God says, for the mountain to move. For example: If God tells you, "Dave kick the white boulder at the base of Mount Rushmore and your face will also be up there." Now you know that God can do the impossible so it's not difficult for you to believe God. But if you just sit in you chair and dream about your face appearing on Mount Rushmore it will never happen. You can have a positive confession and tell everyone you see that you face is going to appear on Mount Rushmore. But it will never happen. The only way your face will appear on Mount Rushmore is if you act(faith) on what you believe and go kick that white stone.

A lot of us believe God but because of fear of looking stupid we fail to act in faith. A lot of people believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins but don't step out in faith and tell others about Him.

Belief is passive faith is active!

Thanks Dave.

Chris Merritt 7 years agofrom Pendleton, Indiana

I never really thought about it before. This is a really good hub.

The last line says it all:

The belief you act upon is an act of faith and it pleases God!

Really true and awesome.

Dave Mathews 7 years agofrom NORTH YORK,ONTARIO,CANADA

Blessed Hill: This is a well written Hub. Thank you. "Belief vs. Faith" Hmmmmm? interesting, BUT, to quote Mr. Spock from "Star Trek" "This is illogical." Especially if one is discussing GOD.

To believe that there is a God, one must have "Faith" otherwise how could one possibly believe in the existance of a supernatural, all powerful, all knowing, ever present, loving and compassionate being that to the human senses is invisible.

Jesus tells us in MATTHEW: 17: 20; "verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed and ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

This is showing belief that faith has unforseen power as well as faith that what you believe can happen, will happen. One cannot exist without the other.

Let's go back to your court case now. What if the police have prefabricated evidence presented in court, just to close the case. The man is really innocent, but the police evidence makes him appear guilty. The jury decides on the evidence. Guilty! How many criminals have been found guilty, only to be found not guilty later and released.

Jesus Himself was totally innocent of any charges brought against Him before Harrod and Pilate, yet still He was found guilty and crucified. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

Opinion Duck I would like to appologise for my response, I was rude and judgemental. I ask your forgiveness. God never said He will prove that He exists. He asks us to have Faith in Him without proof. If we had proof we would no longer need to have faith. Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

I did not say that faith is irrelevant. Faith is the only way to please God. These are the things that I and billions believe because of an inner witness. Why do unbelievers have to come along and try and discredit what christians believe in? What are you guys afraid? Leave us alone and let us believe what we believe. You have a right to disagree, but keep the derogatory commentary to yourself.

Cagsil 7 years agofrom USA or America

Well, I would have to disagree with this entire hub. Belief and Faith? After reviewing both with a conscious mind, one would learn that a belief is nothing like faith and faith according to this hub is irrelevant, but actually is much more relevant than this hub gives credit.

A belief is never to be set in stone and remain unchanged. The ability "faith" is only to be applied to things of reality. Thus, you would put faith in yourself and other people. There is no other rational use for faith.

As for your attempt/insinuation that there happens to be a real god, lacks irrationality or any true understanding of life. There is no god and YOU cannot prove there is one. The fact you believe(set in stone), truly shows you lack so much knowledge and whatever wisdom you think you've gained, isn't telling you truth.

I appreciate the fact that you took the time to write this hub and your reasoning for writing it is honestly conveyed in your words, however, you seem to be speaking from an unenlightened position, which is also indefensible. The funny part of it all, is that you fail to realize it to begin with. Oh well. Enjoy! :)

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

God does exist, but you are just to blind to see Him.

God does speak because He speaks to me everyday and to you, not His fault you are hard of hearing. People make mistakes doesn't mean they are failures, sorry you feel like one .Don't lump the rest of mankind in to your self loathing philosophy, they just might "fail" in self-control and punch you in the face. Scripture is not dead because there are millions of people world wide getting living results daily. In closing I would love to read any words of wisdom that have come from Santa Claus! Ho ho ho!

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

God does exist, but you are just to blind to see Him.

God does speak because He speaks to me everyday and to you, not His fault you are hard of hearing. People make mistakes doesn't mean they are failures, sorry you feel like one .Don't lump the rest of mankind in to your self loathing philosophy, they just might "fail" in self-control and punch you in the face. Scripture is not dead because there are millions of people world wide getting living results daily. In closing I would love to read any words of wisdom that have come from Santa Claus! Ho ho ho!

OpinionDuck 7 years ago

Beiief is a subset of Faith, and faith is then identical to Belief, but none of that makes any difference where god is concerned because there is no real basis for belief, and faith becomes a blind unintelligent act of loyalty.

as for your snipe

I don't see anything wrong with my previous comment, you can't disprove it.

---

There is no pleasing a God that doesn't exist.

A God that doesn't speak for himself.

A God that has created billions of failures.

Reading from dead scripture is not evidence, and it is on par with Santa Claus.

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

Thanks Michael. I pray that God will bless your ministry with signs, wonders and miracles following as you preach the Gospel of the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is good and His mercies endure forever.

Michael Adams1959 7 years agofrom Wherever God leads us.

Well written!

Author

Blessed Hill 7 years ago

Well everybody can see what you believe. This aint preaching mate, this is behavioural science. Before you open you mouth or type on the keyboard check to see if the information is true or not before making a snied comment. I wonder if you actually read the whole piece. But thanks for the comment.

OpinionDuck 7 years ago

There is no pleasing a God that doesn't exist.

A God that doesn't speak for himself.

A God that has created billions of failures.

Reading from dead scripture is not evidence, and it is on par with Santa Claus.